TUAPEKA MOUTH RAILWAY.

Bruce Herald, Volume LV, Issue 64, 21 August 1919, Page 4

TUAPEKA MOUTH RAILWAY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I was pleased to see your correspondent, ''lnterested," draw attention to the agitation that is going on in an interested quarter to stop the Bal-clutha-Tuapc-ka Mouth railway, for that is all the Lovells' Flat advocates can .•hope to do. If they think this Government, or any other, will agree to run a railway parallel to two existing - lines—the Lawrence ami the Invercargill—they do not know much .about railway construction in this country. The House wouhl have somejthing to say about the authorisation of such a line whilst there is an incessant demand' for raihvay facilities from all over the Dominion. The authorisation of the Tuapeka Mouth Hive is in itself a big advantage —a much bigger advantage than many other districts have got under similar conditions —and it is only killing the whole thing to' agitate for a line that would simply be relieving a line, already .in existence. J noticed- that •one speaker at the Bruce County Council meeting considered the Clutha Valley was served by the river service. It is a pity he did not have to transport his produce by the river instead of carting it, as he is l in the happy position of being able to do, a few hundred yards to the main- line. The river steamer is hard put to it to transport, •in the present silted state of the river, ordinary ■■merchandise up it and grain, etc., down. 'All . stock ' has to be "hoofed-" from up to 2-5 miles to reach a railway, and farmers in the wake of the river would find little benefit, if the Lovells Plat idea -were adopted, from the freezer and the principal town. In the matter of the town, r cannot understand the lethargy of the Balclutha peloplc. The raihvay would 'be a boon to it, allowing the whole of the produce in the rich Clutha Valley to go there; yet the people are making no effort to secure the facility. The one result of the present agitation will be the Jiang: ing up of the railway for years, a fact that the advocates of the 'Lovells Mat project, which -has "no. engineering authority behind it in any shape, should remember.—l am, etc., CLUTHA VALLEY.

pir,—t notice ylour correspondent, << Interested,'-' is weeping over the-Hill-end-'Greenncld-Pomahaka people .minding their own '•business' in going to Wellington to ask Sir Allen and the Government to select the route which would ibe-.o'f the greatest good to the .•greatest nunnber. He wishes to know 'what the farmers Would gain toy the Lovells Flat-'Hiliend route. The wholecommunity would gain a -railway which from 'first' to last would ibe a payable' proposition, as against oncwhich would no.t.pay grease for the- axles. Stock to the saleyar-ds and to the freezing works would go as it always will go—on foot when the roads are dry, and by boat when the freezing works and salcyards are surrounded .'by water. I Lovells Flat comes the coal, ! and the Lovells Flat route is the shortest; : for of lime, which will make the 150,000 acres; of land opened by the railway -produce fivefold, thereby .reflecting prosperity not only on Balclutha, ; but,.6n the whole community.— la.m,ctc, • comMONSENSE.